This is for “extern aliases”. Suppose you want to use two different types, both of which are called Foo.Bar (i.e. Bar in a namespace of Foo). The two types will be in different assemblies (by definition) – you use the property in VS to associate an alias with each reference, then you can do: extern … Read more
Live Code Analyzers are used to add custom error messages and warnings that appear live as you’re typing, along with automatic code fixes to help you clean them up. They are available as NuGet packages that you add to your projects in Visual Studio 2015. It is one of the best and helpful key new … Read more
Soft and phantom references come from Java, I believe. A long weak reference (pass true to C#’s WeakReference constructor) might be considered similar to Java’s PhantomReference. If there is an analog to SoftReference in C#, I don’t know what it is. Weak references do not extend the lifespan of an object, thus allowing it to … Read more
The clearest answer. Does “X& const x” make any sense? No, it is nonsense To find out what the above declaration means, read it right-to-left: “x is a const reference to a X”. But that is redundant — references are always const, in the sense that you can never reseat a reference to make it … Read more
(Just to be clear, the explanation I’m giving here is specific to Java and C#. Don’t assume it applies to other languages, although bits of it may.) I like to use an analogy of telling someone where I live. I might write my address on a piece of paper: A variable is like a piece … Read more
Every variable in Java is a reference. So when you do SomeClass s2 = s1; you just point s2 to the same object as s1 points to. You are actually assigning the value of the reference s1 (which points to an instance of SomeClass) to s2. If you modify s1, s2 will be modified as … Read more
Referencing means taking the address of an existing variable (using &) to set a pointer variable. In order to be valid, a pointer has to be set to the address of a variable of the same type as the pointer, without the asterisk: int c1; int* p1; c1 = 5; p1 = &c1; //p1 references … Read more
The & has more the one meanings: 1) take the address of a variable int x; void* p = &x; //p will now point to x, as &x is the address of x 2) pass an argument by reference to a function void foo(CDummy& x); //you pass x by reference //if you modify x inside … Read more
It’s hard to answer this sort of question precisely without spending an awful lot of time picking your words carefully. I’ve done so in a couple of articles which you may find useful: Parameter passing in C# / .NET Reference types and value types in C# / .NET That’s not to say that the articles … Read more
References don’t have their own addresses. Although references may be implemented as pointers, there is no need or guarantee of this. The C++ FAQ says it best: Unlike a pointer, once a reference is bound to an object, it can not be “reseated” to another object. The reference itself isn’t an object (it has no … Read more